Chapter 26 The End of the Round

Match after match in the 26th round came to an end.

In the end, Happy defeated Yizhan 9-1. Although they had a good relationship off the court, it didn't affect the ruthlessness of Happy's players on the field at all.

Blue Rain versus Tiny Herb. Tiny Herb was extremely strong playing away from home. After Gao Yingjie defeated Lu Hanwen to take the first point, they won two more individual matches and then took the team arena, leading into the team competition with a 5-point advantage. However, Blue Rain, playing at home, ultimately won the team competition, and the two teams ended up tying 5-5.

Tyranny versus Wind Howl. Tang Hao's loss to Lin Jingyan was undoubtedly glaring. But in the end, they managed to snatch 2 points, and the score was finalized at 2-8. This result was of limited help to their ranking on the leaderboard. 301 defeated He Wu 8-2, and Hundred Blossom completely defeated Misty Rain 10-0. Wind Howl's points were further widened from the top eight, and their schedule was not in their favor. In the twenty-seventh round, Wind Howl's opponent was Blue Rain.

Wind Howl had home court advantage, but was still unanimously looked down upon by the outside world. Wind Howl's position in people's minds was getting lower and lower. Could they save face in this game? People were too numb to pay much attention to this kind of thing.

In the twenty-seventh round, the most watched match was Tiny Herb hosting Happy's challenge.

After the second half of the season had gone on for a few rounds, those who hated Happy finally found a point to attack.

The second half of the season was a repeat of the first half, with the home and away teams switched. Happy's start in the first half of the season was really bad, and although the second half of the season was much better, it was far from their previous strength. These guys who were looking for a point to attack Happy compared the results of the two stages and quickly picked out the teams that had double-killed Happy, winning both home and away.

Samsara, Blue Rain, Tyranny...

These three teams had won by a relatively large margin in both matches against Happy.

Thus, an article entitled "Looks Good" was published in the lower half of the month's issue of Esports Home. The author was none other than Ruan Cheng, the leading writer of Esports Home, who had embarked on the road of hating Happy for life after blacklisting Tang Rou.

In the article, Ruan Cheng elaborated in detail on the relationship between Happy's fluctuating record and the schedule. In the first half, because they encountered more strong teams at the start, it was difficult to get started. After surviving these, Happy began to find confidence against weaker teams. But this confidence couldn't last long, because of the double round-robin system, Happy once again faced opponents they couldn't defeat. And this time, whether at home or away, Happy continued to lose against these opponents.

"Those who have illusions about Happy can really give up." Ruan Cheng wrote at the end of the article, "This team has not reached first-class standards at all. Those who expect them to win the championship might as well buy a lottery ticket. Their strength is enough to make them laugh if they can get into the playoffs. In the second half, all teams will be working hard to sprint for playoff tickets. If Happy falls behind, don't be too disappointed. The regular season is 38 rounds. Luck can't last until the end."

"This Ruan Cheng, why is he always picking on us!" Chen Guo was furious after reading this issue of Esports Home.

"Knowing that, why are you still buying Esports Home!" Ye Xiu mocked her.

"..." Chen Guo was speechless. Why did she buy it? Wasn't it because she still hoped that all the guys who hated Happy would eventually be convinced by their outstanding performance? And the result? There had been none. Whenever Happy had a bad performance, they would pick it out and talk about it endlessly. This time it was good. Based on being double-killed by several top teams, they even labeled Happy as a pseudo-strong team.

Wasn't that label Wind Howl's patent! Why did it turn around and land on Happy? Chen Guo was really angry.

"Don't be angry with these people. No matter what kind of achievements you make, as long as people are willing to hate, they can always find something to criticize," Ye Xiu said.

"Wind Howl is such a pseudo-strong team, but I didn't see him say a word. He just keeps staring at us," Chen Guo said.

"In the next game, he will probably be even more active," Ye Xiu said.

In the twenty-seventh round of the league, Happy challenged Tiny Herb away from home. In the eighth round, Happy lost to Tiny Herb 2-8 at home. Tang Rou's one-versus-three also failed in this round, and she broke her promise after the match. Ruan Cheng started his journey of hating Happy to death from here.

Now, the league had gone through a cycle, and Happy was standing in front of Tiny Herb again. This time, it would undoubtedly be more difficult to win playing away. Ruan Cheng had probably already raised his pen. If Happy lost again in this game, Tiny Herb would be another team to double-kill them, and the evidence for Happy being a pseudo-strong team would seem even more sufficient. Who knew how many sarcastic taunts would sweep over.

Chen Guo was immediately worried.

Should she ignore this person's deliberate slander, as Ye Xiu said? Chen Guo really couldn't do that. Even if she couldn't convince them with actions, Chen Guo also hoped to slap them in the face, hard. But the problem was that this time she had to face a strong opponent like Tiny Herb, and it was an away game. She was too embarrassed to say "must win". That would put too much pressure on everyone.

"Anyway, just keep cheering," Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo sighed. She really envied Ye Xiu's calm state of mind.

In the twenty-seventh round of the league, Ruan Cheng was indeed as active as Ye Xiu had said, and he was more active than ever before. This time, he even received an invitation from the TV station and became a commentator for the live broadcast of this round's match with Li Yibo. And the match to be broadcast was Happy's away game against Tiny Herb.

"This time, the broadcast will introduce a new face to everyone, but the name will definitely be familiar. This is Mr. Ruan Cheng, a columnist for Esports Home. I believe many players and viewers have read Mr. Ruan's articles. Especially the most recent issue of Esports Home, Mr. Ruan's 'Looks Good' has had a big response! Mr. Ruan seems to always have different views on the Happy team. I think Mr. Ruan will pay special attention to today's game, so I simply invited you to our live broadcast room to talk about this game together. Thank you, Mr. Ruan, for coming today." Before the official start of the match, Pan Lin introduced the extra guest for today during the broadcast time.

"Haha, you're welcome. Hello, Pan Lin. Hello, Director Li," Ruan Cheng greeted Pan Lin and Li Yibo in a dashing manner in front of the camera.

"For today's game, should we first listen to Mr. Ruan's opinion?" Pan Lin said.

"Hehe, of course, I still stick to the point of view that I have explained before. The Happy team still has a considerable gap compared to the top-notch strong teams. And today's Tiny Herb is such a team. Plus, they have home court advantage. I think Tiny Herb has a very high chance of winning," Ruan Cheng predicted the match without hesitation. Compared to Li Yibo, who was cautious in his words these days, it was completely different.

"Understood, so what about Director Li? What do you think? You seem to be quite optimistic about Happy recently," Pan Lin didn't neglect his old partner Li Yibo because of the newly invited guest.

"Hehe, Happy is a new team, so they have a lot of room for improvement. After playing for more than half a season, you can clearly see their improvement. I think such a team has the opportunity to achieve any result, so I won't be too surprised no matter who wins or loses in this game," Li Yibo's remarks were still his usual smoothness. However, under Ruan Cheng's clear position and statement, his smoothness seemed to be a strong support for Happy.

"Okay, after listening to the opinions of the two, let's take a look at the scene. The players of the two teams have now completed their entry," Pan Lin said.

The camera immediately gave a shot of the match scene, where the players of the two teams were shaking hands and paying their respects before the match.

"I wonder who Tiny Herb will send out to fight first today?" Pan Lin raised this question. The hidden meaning of this question, of course, was who would fight Ye Xiu today, and whether Ye Xiu's winning streak could end here.

"Each team usually puts their most outstanding players in the team arena to fight for those 2 points, and arranging the lineup for the individual competition is really not an easy task," Ruan Cheng said with emotion. But everyone could of course hear the hidden meaning in his words. It was that because the core players of each team rarely came to play in the individual competition, Ye Xiu was able to win continuously in the individual competition so far.

If it was a few rounds earlier, saying this would be somewhat reasonable. But now, Ye Xiu had won 26 consecutive rounds, and everyone was too tired to count. Even if he had never met the top gods in the individual competition, winning 26 consecutive rounds was simply the kind of record that professional players could only achieve by running to the online game to play in the arena. The gap between professional players wasn't so big that anyone could crush anyone. Even those top gods had stumbled on countless players. And Ye Xiu, in 26 rounds, didn't stumble once. It was true that not encountering the top gods was still a reason, but to use this too much was purely for the sake of hating.

Ruan Cheng seemed to know that emphasizing this too much wouldn't be justified, so he measured his words and didn't say it directly, as if he was just mentioning it casually.

"Okay, the players from both sides are leaving the stage. Ha, Ye Xiu simply stayed on the stage directly. The big screen hasn't announced the lineup yet!" Pan Lin said.

"Let's see who Tiny Herb sends out," Li Yibo said calmly.

Xu Bin!

Finally, the electronic screen announced the first players to appear from both teams. Happy's Ye Xiu, and Tiny Herb's Xu Bin, the knight character Solitary.

"It's Xu Bin, how do the two teachers view this arrangement?" Pan Lin said.

"Ye Xiu's unspecialized class plays fast, while the grind king Xu Bin is known for being able to drag and slow down. In this duel, everyone will have to see who can control the rhythm better. Whoever's rhythm the game is dragged into will have a greater chance of winning," Li Yibo said.

"It seems to be a very interesting duel. What do you think, Teacher Ruan?" Pan Lin said.

"Um..." Ruan Cheng only responded like this. Although he really wanted to blacklist Happy to death, he really didn't have a hobby of being slapped in the face. Ye Xiu had already won 26 consecutive rounds, and he really didn't dare to be optimistic about Ye Xiu's opponent here.